Here is a question for those who owns a tiptronic transmission.
Do you let off the gas prior to shifting up?

 

I leave mine in drive and let it upshift with my foot to the floor. I find it smoother than manually upshifting. I use tiptronic for downshifting: setting up for tight turns or going down steep hills. I probably would let off the gas when upshifting in tiptronic.

 

A little of both. It feels like a little more power when I let off the gas just as im shifting then back to the floor. Thats just with the butt dyno though. If im just city driving then I let up on the gas but not all the way.

 

Here's my opinion:
There would be no advantage to letting up on the gas. In fact, you may underpower the throttle if you do this. The ecu, via the auto tranny, is capable of handling the change in gearing and adjusting the throttle to accomodate the new demands. Remember, this is a DBW system. The ecu will overide any fuel excesses that it detects from a "lead" foot.

I'm sure your butt dyno "thinks" it's running faster/efficiently, but the ecu always thinks faster than you or your reaction times could ever hope to duplicate. What your butt dyno may be experiencing is an "apparent" smoother shift and acceleration when you let off the throttle slightly. At full throttle, the tranny will make harder shifts which may translate to your butt and brain as an undesirable procedure.

Remember, the 1/4 mile times are always done at full throttle. If it was wiser to feather the throttle during shifts, that would be a lengthy topic of discussion amongst racers.

This is just my two cents... I welcome other opinions.

 

It's the automatic DOWN-shifting that I'm not crazy about.
Either because sometime I don't notice and down shift manually thinking to go in 3rd gear while I'm actually downshifting in 2nd, or because when I slow down at the stop light it auto down shifts in first, causing my car to jerk a little.

Any way to avoid this (still using manual tiptronic)?

BTW I have auto and manual on the tiptronic, dunno if everybody has it, left for auto ( US style) right for "sort of" manual.

 

Well soon i'll be getting a tip-chip so no more letting up on the gas.

 

Do not let up on the gas when you upshift - the tiptronic is designed to carry the power through the upshifting. You do not have to "simulate" a clutch.

You can remove the auto downshifting feature - there is a plug in the firewall that you can unhook to remove this feature.
http://forums.audiworld.com/a4/msgs/508849.phtml

Be aware though, that it may have some affect on your tranny is you drive like a maniac...